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eBay announces ivory ban in wake of IFAW report

Monday, October 20, 2008

San Francisco, CA

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW –
www.ifaw.org) applauds eBay’s decision to institute a global ban on the sale of
elephant ivory products by 1 January 2009 and calls on all other internet
traders to follow their example.

eBay’s decision was announced just hours before the release
of IFAW’s latest investigative report showing Internet trade in wildlife poses a
significant and immediate threat to the survival of elephants and many other
endangered species.

The report, which followed a six-week investigation that
tracked more than 7,000 wildlife product listings on 183 Web sites in 11
countries, singled out eBay as the largest contributor to the problem,
responsible For almost two-thirds of the online trade in wildlife products
worldwide

IFAW’s
report, Killing with Keystrokes: An
Investigation of the Illegal Wildlife Trade on the World Wide Web, will
be released tomorrow and shows that more than 70% of all endangered species’
products listed for sale on the Internet occur in the United
States. The amount of trade tracked in the
U.S. was nearly 10 times the
trade tracked in the next two leading countries, the United Kingdom and China.

Elephant
ivory dominated the investigation, comprising 73% of all product listings
tracked. Exotic birds were second, accounting for nearly 20% of the listings
tracked, but primates, big cats and other animals are also falling victim to the
e-trade in live animals and wildlife products, according to the report.

“IFAW congratulates eBay on this very important step to
protect elephants. With these findings and eBay’s leadership, there is no doubt
left that all Internet dealers need to take responsibility for their impact on
endangered species by enacting and enforcing a ban on all online wildlife trade.
eBay has set the standard for protecting elephants, now governments and other
online dealers need to follow their example,” said Barbara Cartwright, IFAW
Campaigns Manager.

Over 4,000 elephant ivory listings were uncovered during the
investigation, with most of the sales taking place on eBay’s U.S. site. In one
instance, a user purchased a pair of elephant tusks off eBay for more than
$21,000.

“With a few limited exceptions, selling ivory has been
illegal since 1989,” said Jeff Flocken, Director of IFAW’s Washington D.C. office. “However, Web sites are still
teeming with ivory trinkets, bracelets, and even whole tusks for sale.”

“Internet dealers profit off of every piece of elephant ivory
sold on their Web sites, and every piece of that ivory came from a dead
elephant.”

International trade in wildlife is estimated to reach well
into the billions of US dollars annually – a black market rivaling the size of
the international trade in illegal drugs and weapons. Every year, more
than 20,000 elephants are illegally slaughtered in Africa and Asia to meet demand for ivory products. African and Asian
elephants are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the
international Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES).